Transformers, more than meets the packaging eye

Monopoly, Transformers and
Barbie have been the perennial favourites of many a child, but it’s not all fun
and games when it comes to the origins of their packaging. In June this year
Greenpeace released a report linking the toy maker’s packaging to rainforest
destruction, namely through its paper supplier Asia Pulp & Paper (APP). It
seems Hasbro has taken the findings to heart, cutting ties with APP and creating
its new Forest Procurement Policy (PFPP).

The new policy has a number
of targets embedded within it, among them the pledge to increase its use of
paper packaging and in-box content from recycled or sustainable sources to 90
percent by 2015.

Hasbro isn’t the first
company to reassess its paper supply chain as a result of the Greenpeace
report. Mattel and Lego earlier cut ties with APP as a result of the report’s
findings.

APP’s practices have also
been under the spotlight on our own shores. In August this year Greenpeace, the
Green Party and WWF-New Zealand unleashed a campaign to draw consumer attention
to claims Cottonsoft was sourcing its
paper from unsustainable sources in Indonesia, via APP.

Initially calling the
allegations "entirely erroneous", the company two weeks later released a
statement saying it would seek Environmental Choice certification
for its retail products.